You have no money, you’re freezing and hungry, you haven’t slept in your own bed for over 6 months, haven’t used a proper bathroom for longer than that, you wear the same clothes over and over, clothes that disapear one by one.

You have no clue what happens in the rest of the world, all that matters is what’s in front of you and who’s with you.

I tried for this challenge to narrow it down to just one picture, but that morning is such an intense memory I couldn’t…

We spent two days in the Abel Tasman National Park in New Zealand. We had booked a room in a hostel named The Old MacDonald’s farm, for the simple reason that it is a lama farm (and the allusion to McDonald. What a shock when I realized it had nothing to do with the burgers. I am a shame). The hostel, was in fact a camping site. With little bungalows. And a bathroom, in the wood… We had to be strong, let me tell you, we are backpackers, but it was just the start… In the heart of winter, freezing our ass in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom is not an experience we ever wanted to try, but we only learn from our mistakes and these two days have been amazing. The night fell around 5 oclock, without TV or internet we had no choice but to go to bed at 8PM… And to wake up at the crack of dawn!! Un mal pour un bien as we say in France, otherwise I would never have had the chance to see the morning light of New Zealand. The ice on the ground and the mist on the ocean.

First road trip, with the family, when it all started I imagine. Through the beautiful Irish landscape of the Connemara, back when road trips only meant candies and cookies in the back seat, singing along with Michael Buble on repeat, looking through the window for hours on, discovering a land that isn’t your own, and that will never be. Not knowing what travelling would ever become for me, and the room Ireland would suddenly take in my life some day.